Poster Abstracts

University of Chicago

Educational and Outreach Initiatives in the Physical Sciences at the University of Chicago

Within the Physical Sciences Division at the University of Chicago, a number of formal and informal outreach initiatives allow undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and faculty to participate in the mentoring of underrepresented students in STEM disciplines from the elementary school level on up. Initially conceived and organized by individual faculty members, many of these initiatives grew large enough to require professional coordination and broader university staffing.

These initatives serve dual roles of: (1) filling a real need in our neighborhood/campus by providing authentic science & math experiences to students and teachers thus encouraging participation in STEM and (2) helping current & future University faculty develop a deep understanding of the issues of diversity, which is then translated, in turn, to the classroom.

We highlight a selection of these activities, outline their organizational structure and describe their impact on participants.